The Light, the Dark, the Blood
by paynesgrey
Summary: Xover with Heroes. Coraline, currently human, takes an interest in a cheerleader from Odessa who can heal herself.


AN: Warning for some slight sexual situations. Written in honor of International Femslash Day! Whoo hoo!

The Light, the Dark, the Blood

When Coraline first meets Claire Bennet, the girl is saving her from an amusing situation, which Coraline has no problem prolonging if not for her meddling rescuer.

Claire comes up to the music teacher who's hitting on her and tells him a lie that there's someone strange banging on cymbals in the music room. Reluctantly, the poor fool excuses himself to take care of the supposed problem, and he leaves the girl alone with Coraline for the first time.

Instantly, Coraline is drawn to Claire. It's no secret she has a special fondness for young blonde girls with luscious and youthful skin. Claire is all that and more, and Coraline introduces herself as Morgan and tells her about her job.

Claire already knows her. "I've seen you at practice. You're that freelance photographer the principal hired for our yearbook, right?"

Morgan nods and watches the girl with hungry fascination. She notices a sense of loneliness about Claire she only ever sees in her kind; however, Claire is not a vampire, or even a former vampire as in her current state.

She's just a lonely kid who apparently has a good heart and doesn't much like men hitting on helpless women.

Morgan smiles inwardly to that last thought.

"I need to get back to the football field," Morgan says to break into Claire's moment of fascination. She forces exasperation and smiles at the girl. "I would have been out of here ten minutes ago if it wasn't for that annoying interruption." She gives Claire a smile that, while in her lifetime, men have never resisted.

Women either.

Claire catches the smile, and her expression is oblivious yet curious. "I have to go there too, so I'll go with you," Claire says, and they walk together as convenience traps them in a comfortable moment.

Morgan steals glances at Claire as the girl rambles on about perverted music teachers and asshole football players. She's amused and drawn to the girl's sunny smile, obviously hidden by the girl's normally alienated nature.

Claire's an unexpected diversion, and she almost makes her forget about why she's here in Odessa in the first place.

It's just a place on the way to her true destination, and to play the human for a while, she does human things like takes silly freelance jobs and builds up her work portfolio.

She studies Claire again, and idly wonders if the girl's perfect skin has ever been burned. Morgan's been burned before and nothing ever shows on the surface, but pain is deep and invisible to the outside.

She leans closer to Claire and gives herself a treat. Morgan thinks she more than deserves a little distraction.

--

Morgan thinks Claire is sweeter than mama's apple pie; or, however they say that down here. They meet a few times more during her practices. Claire's no longer just another face in a line of bubbly, oval-faced energetic girls. Her energy is distinguished. Morgan and her camera both gravitate to her like mortal men to a siren.

"Morgan!" a man draws her out of her daze, and she turns around to meet the superintendent of the school. Standing next to him is another oval-faced energetic blonde girl, more concerned with herself than anything or anyone else in the room. She smiles arrogantly at her, and in her old days, the Coraline in her would have bitten that cheeky smile right off her face.

"This is Jackie Wilcox, one of our local heroes. She pulled a man out of a burning building and was too modest to admit it until we goaded it out of her," he says proudly. Morgan watches the girl's expression with forced interest and nods. The girl offers her hand, and when she takes it, it feels stiff and sticky.

"Hi, nice to meet you," she says, drawing her hand back as quickly as she offered it. Her energy is dull, and Morgan feels a bit of annoyance. She can't imagine this girl doing anything heroic. She gives Claire a sideline glance before following the superintendent with Jackie to the corner for some individual shots.

The girl gives her a winning fifty cent smile, and Morgan does her job, losing herself in the monotony.

Without a trace of Claire in her viewfinder, tonight is going to be boring.

--

"I saw you taking pictures of Jackie," Claire says, coming behind her outside the main entrance of the school. The girl carries her cheerleading bag over her shoulder and grips the strap tightly.

Is she jealous? Claire frowns at her, and Morgan sees something else.

She's regretful and disappointed. The emotions linger like heavy mist in her green eyes.

"Yes," Morgan scoffs. She smirks at Claire. "She's quite a piece of work."

Claire looks more at ease; Morgan can feel it. Claire rewards her with a small smile because she's glad Morgan isn't fooled either.

"Did she really pull a guy out of a burning building?" Morgan asks in disbelief. They're walking together again as Claire follows Morgan to her car. There's a pause in her step and she shrugs.

"She claims she did," Claire says, acting nonchalant. Morgan as Coraline has been around awhile. She knows bad acting when she sees it. The girl is hiding something.

Morgan puts two and two together, but she doesn't bring it up. Yet.

"The real heroes don't want parades or fancy pictures taken of them in magazines and yearbooks," Morgan says to cut through the silence. The blonde girl turns to her, interested. Morgan cocks her head and lifts up her camera. Before Claire can blink she takes a picture.

Morgan thinks Claire's beautiful with that dazed look in her eyes after the flash.

"Do you know anything about real heroes, I mean, have you met any?" Claire asks. They're already at Morgan's car. Morgan turns to her and can't help but fall for the forlorn look on her face. There's a delicious and tantalizing inner sadness that draws her closer, and she can't get away.

"I might have, but if they were real heroes, I doubt they would tell me."

Claire smiles. It's good enough for Morgan.

The girl moves to say goodbye, but before she turns around, Morgan stops her. "Walking home by yourself?"

Claire meets her gaze and nods. "My dad is away on business. My friend Zach is at a totally lame gamer bash tonight. Oh, and my mom, well, Mr. Muggles has to be primped and pampered before tomorrow's big show." She sighs, and there's no doubt she's lonely. She shakes her head and lifts her chin with fortitude. Morgan expects nothing less. "It's okay. It's pretty close by."

"Want a ride? I know we don't know each other that well, but I don't know anyone in this town, and I don't exactly have a social life to run home to." Morgan's smile is irresistible again, and she feels triumphant when Claire gives in.

--

When they die together, it's the first time Morgan realizes she has feelings for Claire.

They drive innocently down quiet side streets within the city, and they chat like best girl friends.

Neither of them sees the car collide with them as it rides through the red. (Coraline thinks that fate really likes to test her in these cumbersome situations.)

The driver leaves, expectedly, and Morgan lies on the ground in terrible pain – human pain that she often forgets about and remembers that she hates it once she has it.

She's not human enough to wear her seatbelt, and Claire doesn't either, which she finds strange. She's not that stupid, but she doesn't seem that invulnerable. Though, both inevitably are flung through the shattered glass of the car.

Morgan tries to remain awake. She ignores the pain and looks to her side at Claire. She's struggling to keep alive as well. The two wounded girls lock eyes.

There's a horror in Claire's eyes. "Morgan," spills out from the girl's lips, and her eyes tell her she's sorry.

Sorry for what? She hasn't done anything, and the accident's not her fault.

"Claire?" Morgan chokes out. She can feel her own heartbeat slowing down and losing momentum as the blood gushes from her wounds.

_Damn_, she thinks. The compound is back at her hotel. She's going to die her and become a…

Morgan can feel the cold and agony now, and the scent of Claire's blood fills her nose. She closes her eyes and time slips away. There are sirens in the distance, and her last thought is that she wants them to go away and not find them.

Her eyes flash open and Morgan realizes not a lot of time has passed despite the dead weight in her head. There are no emergency vehicles or inquiring neighbors. She lays on the ground dead and the air is still.

The night is once again her sanctuary, and she craves blood again. Her head snaps up, and Claire is still struggling with consciousness. Claire's eyes are closed but her muscles are twitching and her body is shuddering.

Coraline cocks her head and looks to the girl like she's always wanted her but her human side naturally suppressed.

Claire's blood is seeping out of her wounds. There seems to be so much of it, but Coraline feels that there's still something else that's not right. Her eyes widen as she realizes just what that is.

Claire Bennet can heal. She can miraculously come back from the dead.

Coraline's eyes go wild, and Claire loses consciousness as her bones knit back together. Coraline is intrigued and awed, but more than anything she's hungry.

Before Claire's last wound can sew itself back together, Coraline opens her mouth, bends down and feeds.

--

Coraline watches Claire anxiously as the girl sleeps on her hotel bed. Despite draining a lot of Claire's blood, the girl is still alive, and the more Coraline ponders and analyzes such a gift in her mind, the more she yearns to keep her.

Coraline doesn't even know if she can even turn such a girl.

She knows she doesn't even want to. Claire Bennet is a vampire's bottomless pool of chocolate. She could feed, fuck, bite and kill the girl and she'd always come back, ready again.

An electric pulse of desire bursts through her body, so Coraline moves closer as the girl begins to wake.

Claire moans, and she looks around her surroundings. The room is dark except for the small warm light from a nightstand lamp. "Wha—Morgan?"

The Coraline meets Claire's eyes, and she's still a vampire. The stolen compound is in her purse, and she hasn't resolved to use it yet.

Coraline takes deep breath and catches Claire's blood scent and feels the throbbing in her neck.

"Hey, are you okay?" Morgan asks. Claire is not very talkative. If anything, she seems perplexed and dazed.

"What…" Realization dawns her, and she looks at Coraline as Morgan with shock. "We were dead!"

Coraline says nothing but nods once.

"And all the blood…" She looks at her clothes. Fresh, not hers, and absent of any blood.

"Sorry, I cleaned you up. I had to… destroy the evidence."

Claire is panicked and excited. "So you died and healed too?"

Coraline nods, and light fills Claire's eyes like a shining star her dark room. Coraline realizes this is Claire's terrible secret. Claire can heal; she's different, and now she thinks Coraline is like her in the same way.

The truth is that she's not, but she doesn't know how to tell Claire this. Or that she even wants to.

"I saw… that you could too, so I brought you here. I'm sure you don't want others finding out your secret as well."

Claire nods. "Yeah, it's not something I flaunt around."

They become silent for a long, choking beat.

"You pulled that man from the burning building didn't you?" Claire looks at her, and the truth is evident in her eyes.

"Well," Coraline as Morgan jokes. "I can now say that I have met a real hero."

"I'm not a hero, Morgan. I'm a coward. I can't even be myself out in the open. I'm a freak!" She gets up from the bed and starts pacing the room wildly. She stops and turns to Coraline, and her face lights with hope. "But now… I know I'm not the only freak out there. You…"

She stops, and Coraline is amused. "I don't consider myself a freak."

"Then what do you consider yourself?" Claire demands.

Coraline moves closer to her, centimeters from her nose. "Not like you."

Claire is shocked and taken aback. "What… but you said…?"

Coraline cocks her head. Claire's blood and fear fill up her nose like the scent of a fresh baked pie. She starts to circle her like prey – prey that can come back to life and give her limitless amounts of blood.

Prey that could make all of that much more fun. Coraline's finger caresses a line down Claire's arm and the girl shivers.

"Do you really want to know what I really am?"

Claire nods vigorously. Her fear rises.

"Are you scared, Claire?" Coraline asks in mocked tones. _There's no room for bravery here now, Claire_, she thinks to herself. She backs Claire back onto the bed and towers over her as the girl sits and stares up at her, unsure to what Coraline is going to do next.

"I'm not scared of anything. I can't die, remember?" she says softly, almost viciously, as if she doesn't appreciate Coraline's game.

She's sharp, and Coraline is more than intrigued.

"Morgan, please just…"

"It's Coraline. I'm not Morgan."

"Of course," Claire says with annoyance. She looks almost betrayed. Coraline can sympathize. The girl thinks she's found a kindred spirit, and instead she's found a monster. Her expression is bitter. "Of course you have a fake name. So what else should I know about you?" Her tone fills with sarcasm. "Are you going to eat me or something? Is that your special power?"

"I don't have powers, Claire, not like you," Coraline says. She places her hands on Claire's shoulders and pushes her down on the bed. Surprisingly, the girl doesn't resist. She may be caught in her spell, but the sour look says otherwise. Coraline guesses she just wants to know. She wants to know how Coraline could be like her, but not.

"You help people, Claire. You're sweet and you help lonely women out of the clutches of big-bad men. But I'm none of those things. I hurt people, and I put both lonely women and big-bad men in danger."

Claire watches her in tense silence. Coraline straddles her and hovers over her rigid body on the bed. She plays with Claire's blond hair and wraps a tress around her finger.

"So you use your powers for evil. I get it."

Coraline throws her head back into the shadows and laughs. When her face appears in the light again, taking in Claire's shock, she reveals her secret too.

Eyes wild and ominous as a golden moon glow at her. Fangs draw, hungry for the warm sustenance just behind the softness of that indestructible skin.

Claire is speechless, and she draws a heavy breath. Coraline leans down as she finally traps her, and Claire's eyes daze as the ceiling above her is blurred.

Coraline nips and licks the skin right where Claire's pulse makes a steady, seductive beat. Slowly, she moves her hand under Claire's clothes, tracing the smooth swell under her breast, pinching the hardened nipple. Her fingers trail lower, sliding and dipping deeper. Claire makes a guttural sound from her throat as Coraline's touch snakes under her panties and pokes through. Finally, she sinks her teeth in and Claire gasps – coming down here, coming up there. Her breath slows, and she lies still as Coraline feeds.

She looks ahead in wonderment and finally says, "I thought vampires weren't real."

Claire then cries, and Coraline feels her tears against her cold skin. Her body satiates to the sweet taste of Claire's blood.

Then she wonders if she can eat forever and never let go.

--

Claire dies at least ten times. She doesn't get up or move her muscles to bring vitality back into her body. She just lies on the bed and dies, and then heals, looks at Coraline with pain and pity, and dies again, only to come back and repeat it all.

Coraline gets full several times, and she feels so satisfied she doesn't think she'll need to eat for decades.

She feeds and then takes breaks, and she watches as Claire heals and revives.

She's torturing the girl; she realizes.

And she knows she can go back and that she doesn't have to do this. She knows she's got something else more important to do than feed on jewels of esoteric nature.

But Claire Bennet is her drug – the black hole sucking her away from all reality and reason. The reality is that she truly wants Mick St. John back. Her reason is that she loves him, and she refuses to let him live on without her or at the whims of anyone else.

She's his wife. He belongs with her, and she with him.

And Claire Bennet belongs here … or nowhere, but alive and away from Coraline. This girl is still young and has not found the purpose of her delicious powers.

Claire groans awake, and she shakes her head as if she has a bad hangover.

Coraline's body shudders with ecstasy. The possibilities this girl has…

However, she can't do it anymore. She can't give up what she comes here for in the first place. She bites her lip and slides her attention on her purse, the compound beckoning her to get back on track again.

Claire sits up and meets Coraline's eyes. She glowers at her, but her eyes hold an obvious confusion.

"I have to leave," Coraline says, dismissing Claire's hard stare.

Claire Bennet is still weak, but she looks relieved. Coraline approaches her softly and ruffles her hair. She looks dazedly at her, expecting the unexpected from her new vampire friend.

"You're letting me go?" Claire asks.

Coraline chuckles softly and cups Claire's cheek. "You were never my prisoner, little one."

Claire nods. "So are there other vampires out there, like you? It's not just a myth?"

"Are there other girls out there that can come back to life like you?" Coraline responds. It's obvious Claire doesn't know the answer.

Claire watches Coraline in fascination as she packs up her all her stuff. The girl is watching her like Coraline had been watching her when they'd first met. Coraline is almost flattered; Claire Bennet is intrigued and attracted to her too.

She stops, and when she's ready, she walks over to Claire and takes her hand. Claire allows Coraline to kiss her on the mouth and nip the side of her neck.

"I have to go," Coraline says, and she can already feel this brief, strange friendship dying. Unlike them, this friendship won't come back to life. Claire knows this and the friend she thought is like her is leaving her life as fast as she came in.

"How do you know I won't tell people about you? About what you are?" Claire lightly threatens.

Coraline smiles at her. "How do you know I won't tell them about you?" She knows that Claire expects her to say that. "Besides, no one believes in vampires. You're already a loner at school…"

"I know," Claire interrupts her harshly. Coraline is turning the knob on her hotel door, looking at the heartbroken girl over her shoulder.

"I thought you were like me," Claire says dejectedly. Coraline wonders if Claire believes that this has really happened to her. Maybe she'll wake up tomorrow when Coraline's gone and pass it off as only a dream.

"You know I'm not," Coraline finally says. It's her version of good bye. She leaves the weak, sad and indestructible girl in her hotel room. Quickly, she checks out and is on the road again, and she wonders how long Claire stays in the room after she's gone.

Claire's life is just beginning, and as far as Coraline guesses, the girl is still human. If a world exists with vampires, and vampires that can become humans, and humans that can rise from the dead, she thinks that Claire has a chance to find someone like her – someone who won't use her for what she is like Coraline had.

At the next stop toward Los Angeles, Coraline uses the compound, and she turns human again. She can no longer feel the craving for Claire and her blood.

And she hopes – when her plans to smoothly with Mick – that she will never crave such things again.

END


End file.
